This year, wind tunnel management will be more crucial than ever, as resources must be divided between the 2025 project and work on the 2026 regulations. For the first time, McLaren will have fewer aerodynamic testing hours than any other team due to their Constructors’ Championship victory, but Andrea Stella is not worried. Wind tunnel testing rewards planning and the quality of the analyses conducted.
Wind tunnel: How testing works
The aerodynamic handicap system, in place since 2021, limits wind tunnel usage. The first constraint is the number of sessions allowed, each defined as the period in which the air circulating in the tunnel exceeds 18 km/h (5 m/s). There is also a time limit on tunnel occupancy, but the most critical factor is Wind on Time—the period during which airflow is above 54 km/h (15 m/s) but does not exceed 180 km/h (50 m/s).
Teams can schedule up to two sessions per day, usually lasting only a few dozen minutes each. Regulations allow a scale model no larger than 60% of the real car, with conversion formulas used to adjust measurements accordingly. The goal of wind tunnel work is to explore the aerodynamic map as thoroughly as possible, analyzing how load and efficiency change based on configuration, ride height, and the car’s attitude relative to the ground. During sessions, teams typically hold a specific setup for a few seconds before switching to the next, but there is not enough time to simulate every possible scenario. This is where human expertise comes into play.
Quality over quantity
In recent months, much attention has been given to modernizing wind tunnels, requiring both state-of-the-art equipment and a sufficiently large simulation chamber to match the size of today’s cars. However, beyond infrastructure, current restrictions place a premium on smart planning, carefully selecting the most relevant aspects and configurations to investigate. McLaren has excelled in this area, delivering numerous development packages over the past two years that have consistently been effective without unintended side effects.
Andrea Stella, therefore, is not particularly concerned about the reduced wind tunnel hours resulting from McLaren’s championship win: “We were the first to experience that, despite increasing development restrictions, efficiency and the way you build your expertise are by far the most important things. Just because you have three times the wind tunnel time doesn’t mean you will develop the car three times faster. We’ve seen it—some teams have introduced updates that were not actual improvements. It’s not necessarily about quantity; we focus primarily on the quality of development.”
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